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Thursday, 2 February 2012

Peña Nieto and his dirty war

During a tour of the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI)
presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto put his support squarely behind the
former governor Manuel CavazosLerma in his race for a senate
seat.

It’s
a risky political move. CavazosLerma is currently under investigation by the
attorney general’s office, along with former PRI governors Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba and Eugenio Hernandez
Flores. The
investigation came to light because prosecutors asked transportation
authorities to keep track of when the ex-officials entered or left the country.

The three governors represent almost 20 years of continuous
rule: Cavazos Lerma served as governor from 1993 through 1999; Yarrington Ruvalcaba
served from 1999 through 2004; and Hernandez Flores served from 2005 through
2010.

In
a campaign stop in Ciudad
Victoria, Peña Nieto clearly indicated that he believed the
charges to be politically motivated. The current Mexican president, Felipe
Calderon, is a member of the competing right of center Partido Acción
Nacional, or PAN.

In a speech during the campaign stop, Peña Nieto said that the
PRI was “committed to the rule of law” and that it would defend it during the
election. His confidence may stem from the fact that the accusations were
leaked – the investigation was intended to have been kept private until more
evidence had been collected.

Peña Nieto went further, saying that it was important to
avoid partisanship in the application of the law, even suggesting that there
was a dirty war, or guerra sucia against
the PRI – also known as the “tricolor” for its party colors of green, white and
red, which correspond to those of the Mexican flag.

The candidate’s invocation of the dirty war is potentially
quite inflammatory, as it was the PRI – in power for most of the 20th century –
who conducted the guerra sucia in
the 1960s and 1970s, in which many dissidents were killed and “disappeared”.

It is also, perhaps, an insensitive time to bring up the
subject, given that one of the big players in the dirty war, Miguel
Nazar Haro, died of natural causes last week – proving that the impunity of
Mexico’s ruling classes is still firmly entrenched.

Peña Nieto has seen his lead falter in the past weeks, but his telenovela good looks are still
considered by many to be a distinct advantage. Perhaps this is why the former governor
of the State of Mexico said in Ciudad Victoria that "women will be the
engine of [his] victory."

Heil Ricky Martin

Aside from these fatuous comments, Peña Nieto is now clearly
willing to play hardball, saying that “We will not let authoritarian acts...threaten the democracy
in ourcountry."

In a statement issued early Tuesday, the Attorney General's
Office has not said why the former officials are being investigated, but by
necessity it would involve federal crimes. Organized crime, drug trafficking
and money laundering are all considered federal offenses in Mexico; however, the
rumour mill is rife with word that the government is set to implicate the former governors in the
killing of Rodolfo TorreCantu, who was thought to have been murdered by a drug
cartel.

This
is an incredibly serious accusation. TorreCantu was himself a PRI
candidate for the Tamaulipas governorship. His death was the result of a very
aggressive premeditated attack: six others died with him in a hail of bullets
en route to the General Pedro J. Méndez International Airport in Ciudad
Victoria on June 28, 2010. This political assassination has been considered the
most serious to hit Mexico since the killing of the PRI presidential candidate,
Luis Donaldo Colosio, on March 23, 1994.

However,
the investigation is questionable, given that it is reportedly based
mainly on statements by a former member of the ultra-violent Los Zetas cartel,
Miguel Soto Parra. Arrested
in 2009, Soto has since become a protected witness of both the Mexican and
US governments.

As well, though Mexico’s interior minister, Alejandro Poire,
confirmed there was an investigation, he denied that the three PRI politicians
were under a travel ban – an airport official in Tamaulipas had apparently issued
a memo seeking to keep those named in the investigation from leaving the
country, which was a mistake. The official has since been relieved of his post.

It should be noted that politically motivated arrests are
not unknown in Mexico: in the state of Michoacan in 2009 federal prosecutors
arrested 12 mayors and 23 other officials – all 35 were later acquitted and
released.

Twitter: @TimothyEWilson

Email: lapoliticaeslapolitica [at] gmail [dot] com

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In the podcast Notes From The Underground TE Wilson discusses historical and contemporary attitudes toward crime. Each episode features a one-on-one interview that explores a unique topic. Interviewees include authors, experts, and individuals with personal experiences of crime. These podcasts were originally broadcast through the facilities of Trent Radio in Peterborough, Canada.

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